 |
 |
Search by
author, title, ISBN |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gardening on the Edge: Drawing on the Cornwall Experience
| Author: Philip McMillan Browse, General Editor |
|
| ISBN: 0906720338 |
|
| Description: |
|
Ten respected and practising gardeners, and one of the world’s foremost evolutionary biologists write on their experiences of ‘gardening on the edge’ – at the edge of knowledge, and at the edge of the land.
Since the plant introductions of the nineteenth century, Cornwall has been at the forefront of the art and science of gardening – its gardens and gardeners famous world-wide. Gardening on the Edge continues this tradition: it describes a host of plants introduced since the mid-twentieth century – all particularly suited to western seaboard gardens and mild, temperate climates.
You can use Google Book Search to look inside this book here.
Philip McMillan Browse is a horticultural consultant, and has been Director of the Saratoga Horticultural Foundation in California, and Director of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Garden at Wisley. He was the first Horticultural Director of the Lost Gardens of Heligan, and is one of the originators of the Eden Project in Cornwall. His publications include Plant Propagation (1979), and Palms for Cooler Climates (1993). He is co-author of The Heligan Vegetable Bible (2000), and author of Heligan: Fruit, Flowers and Herbs (Alison Hodge, 2005) and Heligan Survivors (Alison Hodge, 2007).
Michael Bell is a founder member and President of the Bamboo Society (EBS Great Britain), and a regular contributor to its journal. He has been growing bamboos for over 40 years, and holds one of the National Collections of Phyllostachys (cultivated forms), which forms part of his collection of more than 260 temperate taxa, and is one of the most comprehensive in Europe. He is the author of The Gardener’s Guide to Growing Temperate Bamboos (2000), and has contributed to several other books.
Mark Brent trained in the gardens of the Rothschild family in north Buckinghamshire, and at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, before settling in Cornwall in 1992 to assist with the development of Lamorran House Gardens at St Mawes. He has travelled widely around the Mediterranean, and in the Pacific North-West region of North America.
Les Cathery started to grow bamboos in the early 1980s, to augment a predominantly Himalayan garden in Surrey. In 1994 he moved to the far south-west coast to house the expanding bamboo collection, and to include less hardy species, but mainly to indulge a growing passion for Southern hemisphere plants, particularly Proteaceae and Restionaceae. He holds the NCCPG Phyllostachys cultivar joint collection.
Peter Clough’s life in coastal gardens has led him up and down the west coast of Britain as head gardener of Achamore House on the Isle of Gigha; Tresco Abbey Garden, in the Isles of Scilly, and Inverewe Garden on the north-west coast of Scotland. He has advised on the provision of shelter on Ramsey Island off the Welsh coast; acted as consultant to the gardens of Colonsay House in the Hebrides, and contributed to the cliff gardens of St Michael’s Mount in Cornwall. He now grows cut foliage, and plants suitable for coastal gardens in the ‘milder counties’.
Tom Hudson is a New Zealander by birth, and has been living and gardening at Tregrehan, Cornwall, since 1987. He is particularly interested in trying out plants with known source background, many of which seem to have little horticultural worth.
Guy Moore was born and grew up on St Mary’s, Isles of Scilly. He worked first as a landscape gardener, specializing in traditional woodworking techniques. Having developed a particular interest in proteaceous plants, since 2000 he has been specialist plant advisor at Trevena Cross Nurseries – the largest protea grower in the UK.
Edward Needham's early interest in the wild plants of his native Cotswolds soon grew to encompass the flora of Europe and beyond, and reached a high point with several trips to the Nepal Himalayas in the 1980s, and later to the parts of south-west China open to independent travel. His own garden is dedicated almost exclusively to plants of natural origin.
Dr Chris Page is a specialist in taxonomy, biology, ecology, and the evolution of ancient living plants. Former Principal Scientific Officer of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh (1969–94), he founded both the RBGE’s International Conifer Conservation Programme, and the Conifer Specialist Group of the Species Survival Commission. He is a former Vice-President of the British Pteridological Society; Fellow of the Linnean Society, and Member Emeritus of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). His publications include The Ferns of Britain and Ireland (1982), and Ferns: Their Habitats in the Landscape of Britain and Ireland (Collins New Naturalist series, 1988).
Charlie Pridham owns and runs the Roseland House nursery, and holds the National Collection of Clematis viticella. His love of climbing plants stems from seeing the more flamboyant tender climbers all around the world while pursuing an earlier career in the Merchant Navy.
Dr Rob Senior was influenced more than he realized by his father’s love of gardening. He was set to work in the vegetable garden, and a teenage interest in cacti was a reaction to potatoes and broad beans. Reading W. Arnold-Forster’s Shrubs for the Milder Counties was a revelation of something of the magnificent scope of horticulture, and led him to leave the ‘frozen north’ and seek employment in the ‘sunny south’. Through the ensuing 40 years, plantsmen, gardens, and plants helped him retain a degree of equanimity, despite the pressures of NHS bureaucracy. In retirement from general practice, they are a panacea for the trials of advancing age.
1st edition
Cased, printed paper cover
248 pages
approx. 340 colour photos
246 x 189mm
18.03.04
Introduction
by Philip McMillan Browse
1 Gardening at the Edge of the Sea
by Peter Clough
2 Recent Woody Plant Arrivals in Cornwall
by Tom Hudson
3 Conifers
by Chris Page
4 Palms
by Mark Brent
5 Proteaceae
by Guy Moore
6 Bamboos and Restios
by Michael Bell and Les Cathery
7 Hedychiums and Others
by Edward Needham
8 Climbers
by Charlie Pridham
9 Ferns, Clubmosses, and Horsetails
by Chris Page
10 Some Uncommon, Untried, or Tender Plants
by Rob Senior
The Contributors
Nurseries, Specialist Suppliers, and Societies
Gardens to Visit and National Collections
Further Reading
Index
Acknowledgements
‘A long-awaited account of gardening in Cornwall and plant introductions of the past 50 years ... This account is a celebration of the art of gardening at the edge of knowledge and the land, and its lessons have both relevance and potential far beyond the Southwest.
‘... the book promises to be one of the most well-thumbed and talked-about reference works of its kind for many a year.’ (Roy Lancaster VMH, OBE, The Garden, July 2004)
‘This is a really useful book for anyone wanting to be adventurous in gardening with marginally hardy plants and to experiment with new plant introductions. It is enormously refreshing to read a gardening book written by people who really know their subject and who write authoritatively, and with pictures generally unavailable from the general run of picture agencies.
‘You learn new things all the time from this book. ...
‘... there is a good list of specialist nurseries and suppliers in Cornwall, mail-order houses countrywide and specialist plant societies, as well as a six-page bibliography and a competent index.
‘... It is not a coffee-table book' (Sue Minter, Head of Living Collections, The Eden Project, Friends Magazine, no. 15, Summer 2004)
‘the variety of voices reflects a range and richness of experience no single author could match. ... enough "celebrity horticultural chefs" to produce a very rich, nourishing and satisfying plant-stew. ...
‘a book of more or less permanent value, since nothing similar is likely to be produced for some time ... its production is certainly a remarkable achievement.’ (Hortus, no. 70, Summer 2004)
‘well illustrated, easy to read and packed full of fascinating information. It is a classic’ (Cornwall Gardens Trust Journal, 2004)
‘I must declare an interest ... since I know personally most of the writers, and have visited many of the gardens. May I add then, by way of recommendations, that this is a book I would have bought to put on my shelves, even if I had known none of them. ... I have found the book an entertaining as well as informative read, which is worthwhile if only for the illustrations of the unfamiliar.’ (Douglas Ellory Pett, Borderlines, no. 24, Spring/Summer 2004)
'a must have item for the bookshelf of any garden practitioner in Cornwall or anywhere with similar climatic conditions’ (Inside Cornwall, May 2004)
'a definitive guide to the wealth of historical and recent information about exotic gardening ...
'Gardening on the Edge brings the reader up to date with the developments of the last few decades’ (Cornish Guardian, 6.5.04)
'This is a beautifully produced book which is profusely illustrated in full colour, and is one which any gardener will return to time and again.’ (West Briton, 19.8.04)
'Sharing their experience they (the authors) divulge hints, tips, fascinating history and origins of the plants that are now almost native to Cornwall. Illustrated throughout with colour photographs, this is both a visual and academic look at this fascinating subject.’ (The Book Place, September 2004) |
|
RRP: £ |
| |
| You Pay: |
£25.00
|
|
|
| Buy Online: |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Add to basket
